Herman Scherchen (1891-1966), the distinguished German conductor, was largely self-taught in music. He played the viola in the Berlin Philharmonic (1907-10) and in 1918 founded the Neue Musikgesellschaft in Berlin. He was an ardent champion of twentieth-century music, especially that of Schoenberg, with whom he toured. From 1928 to 1933 he was in charge of music for the Konigsberg Radio and in 1933 settled in Switzerland and led for six years the Zürich Radio Orchestra. A number of Scherchen's classic recordings from the 1950s and early 1960s are again available, now on compact disc. Handbook of Conducting offers an admirably full and clear analysis of the techniques of conducting. First published in 1933, it is still of immense value to all students of conducting. It will be of interest as well to all musicians and anyone who listens to orchestral music. The conductor is more than the chief musician or a human metronome; the conductor shapes the music and its interpretation. This is the classic handbook for conductors in training, and it's a useful tool for anyone who wants to understand just what's going on up there on the podium (besides baton-waving and displays of rank egotism) and why, whether you're a serious musician or an armchair conductor. The book runs through the basics--"On Conducting" and "The Science of the Orchestra"--and into the more esoteric aspects of music-making as well. By far the most absorbing and demanding book on conducting ever published ... a veritable Bible for generations of conductors, it is both utterly visionary and rivetingly interesting ... His book will never cease to instruct, to inspire, and above all to enthral.' Norman Del MarTthis book has nothing to do with early music whatsoever; it was written in 1929, so this is hardly surprising. It is, however, the best instruction book ever written for conductors, and therefore its renewed availability is of the first importance... If those of you who conduct can do everything in this book, no music will ever daunt you, from Monteverdi to Maxwell Davies. If you can't, buy it and study it... the ideal manual.' FoMRHI Handbook of Conducting offers an admirably full and clear analysis of the techniques of conducting. It will be of interest as well to all musicians and anyone who listens to orchestral music. The distinguished German conductor Hermann Scherchen, 1891-1966, became a legend in his own time as a supremely knowledgeable, inspiring, and uncompromising advocate of the most demanding orchestral repertoire. The founder of the Berlin Society of New Music, he was an ardent champion of 20th-century music, especially that of Schoenberg, with whom he worked, and of Webern. He settled in Switzerland in 1933 and was for six years the conductor of the Zurich Radio Orchestra. His classic handbook offers an admirably full and clear analysis of the technique of conducting, at the first time giving a fascinating glimpse of orchestral life in Scherchen's time. First published in 1933, it has lost none of its ability to instruct and inform aspiring conductors. It will be of absorbing interest, furthermore, to any musician or concert-goer. Norman Del Mar is Conductor and Professor of Music at the Royal College of Music. He has recorded extensively with English orchestras and written books on orchestration and instrumentation, as well as studies of Richard Strauss and Mahler's Sixth Symphony.